"In fact, without all these items, you two wouldn't need our help; you would have moved everything in half a day."
Tire also sighed and said, "You're oversimplifying things. I don't want to bring those things either, but do you know that my mom also had a long difficult time before?"
"After she split up with my dad, she raised me by herself. At that time, my grandma hadn't returned from other places, and the land on which the gas station was built wasn't owned by my mom yet. Not to mention bowls, pots, spoons, and clothes, she wouldn't even throw away a piece of wood that she picked up from outside."
"Many people in the Street of the Broken Fish Basket are like that. They are all very frugal, they want to take everything with them. Even if you tell them that everything is available here, they will absolutely not give up those junk."
Jason sighed, nodded, and somewhat understood this mindset. Back in the day, when many children from the Tail Gang couldn't get meals, he was the same. Whenever he saw anything, he wanted to take it back, feeling it could be of use, to save some money.
They chatted while watching the rain, but after a while, the rain and wind became stronger and stronger. Tire's face gradually turned serious. He said, "How is this typhoon so severe? Since I was born, I have never seen such a big storm…"
He stood up and said, "No, I feel that something bad is going to happen, I have to go to Boss Cobblepot..."
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, the loud knocking on the door rang out. Jason quickly stood up, opened the door, and there stood a red truck outside. The driver said solemnly, "The boss has called for all members of the Children's Gang, something has gone wrong!"
Jason put down the still warm milk pot, wrapped it in a blanket to keep it warm, Tire threw the blanket on Jason's bed, and then hurried out.
In the hallway, many children walked out sleepily. Jason looked at the red truck and asked, "Who is the boss looking for? All children, or the King of Children?"
"I don't know, he only told me to…"
Jason pushed through the red truck and stepped into the hallway, saying, "Everyone go back! Go back to sleep! King of Children… oh, um, what's his name again? The Floor Lead! The Floor Lead and me will handle this!"
A lot of children were left standing uncertain, not sure of what was going on. However, many taller children had already dashed out. They said, "Hurry up, the adults are also probably gathering for a meeting, we have to rush for the elevator!"
Having said that, they immediately rushed into the lift. Some people didn't even have their slippers on, and were barefoot, but luckily, the floor in the hallway was carpeted and therefore not hard. Jason and Tire also ran over.
Just as expected, there were already some adults in the elevator. Jason saw a familiar Mob member and asked, "Deep, what happened?"
"I don't know. Our boss suddenly called us over. I heard… it seems a building has collapsed? There might be an issue with a dangerous building in our previous territory, and people are injured."
Tire's heart immediately tensed up. He asked, "Where? Is it on the Street of the Broken Fish Basket? Who is injured? Is it severe?"
The Mob member named Deep shook his head and said, "We haven't gone to the meeting yet, so I don't know. But the most famous dangerous building is probably in that area? From their tone, it seems that nobody died, only injuries…"
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Tire dashed out in an instant. Jason followed closely behind. The Kings of Children rushed into the office where Boss Cobblepot was drawing a map on the whiteboard. Seeing them come in, he said:
"You guys made it here pretty quickly. Sit down and take a sip of water while I explain the upcoming arrangements…"
"Boss, I heard that a dangerous building has collapsed. It may be my neighborhood. What... what should we do?!" Tire said somewhat anxiously, and then angrily stomped his foot, "They should have moved today! What's so good about those damn things?! Now see what happened…"
"Calm down." Boss Cobblepot calmly took a sip of water, then said, "The situation isn't very serious. Only three buildings have collapsed. None of them were tall buildings, so no one was crushed to death. The details on the injured are still being counted."
"Right now, the typhoon has not yet passed. So the ones doing the rescue operations are adult mob members. Wayne Enterprises has sent rescue vehicles and doctors over, so there's no big issue."
"But tomorrow morning, it will be our battleground." Boss Cobblepot tapped on the blackboard, "As you might have seen, a few big Mafia groups that have already moved in here, are organizing people for the rescue. By the time dawn comes, the rescue work should be mostly over."
"At that time, they will be hungry and cold. Our job is to prepare food, heat up water, and when the typhoon stops, deliver it to them."
"You don't need to worry about not getting paid. Both Wayne Enterprises and the Mob who haven't moved away are jointly funding this. I already have some of the funds for backup work."
"Now, I'll distribute a bunch of people to buy food. Another group should package the food. The rest of you should get ready to deliver…"
At that moment, Jason raised his hand and said, "Are we buying ready-to-eat food and heating it?"
Looking at him, Boss Cobblepot nodded, not knowing what he wanted to ask, but Jason said: "I think, we can cook ourselves."
"On one hand, supermarkets that sell raw materials have more variety, and the prices are more affordable, allowing us to save capital and have more profit margin."
"On the other hand, the restaurant downstairs has already closed, but I could contact the owner to borrow their kitchen, we just need to give them some money."
"Many children in the gang have experience in kitchens of various restaurants. They can put this into practice."
"The meals we prepare ourselves will taste better than warmed up supermarket semi-prepared meals. Some of the children's parents are chefs, we can also give them some money, and have them participate…"
As soon as Jason finished speaking, the other children immediately began to voice their agreement:
"Yes! Yes! I know how to chop vegetables, I have worked in the most famous Italian restaurant in the East District, and my tomatoes are beautifully chopped…"
"I can too, I even know how to roll pizza dough!"
"I can boil water, I mostly did this job in the kitchen before…"
Boss Cobblepot raised his eyebrows, cleared his throat and said, "Okay, let's do that. Jason, you go contact the restaurant owner, Tire, you take a group of people and go to the market downstairs to buy stuff, remember to haggle…"
"You two, go find boxes for the food, preferably with some insulating foam, you guys go boil water, and you, count how many people can do the deliveries, don't count wrong…"
Shortly after, Jason left the office. As he passed the hallway, he saw the rain outside was still heavy, but he felt a warmth in his chest, even enough to break a sweat. He wiped his forehead and headed briskly toward the elevator. All the children were just like him, this time, what urged them on was not a whip, but something else.
It was something that grew from the comfort of being full, not affected by the typhoon, staying in a warm house.
This left them feeling puzzled, but at the same time, it filled them with energy, and they felt lighthearted.